
<2ee^» , 



AN 



Historical Address 



DELIVERED AT 



Groton, Massachusetts, 

July 12, 1905, 
on the celebration of the 

'Cfcm ffptmtrreTr amy jftftutit &mufctr4arg 

OF 

.THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 

BY 

SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN 

A NATIVE OF THE TOWN. 



AN 



Historical Address 



DELIVERED AT 



Groton, Massachusetts, 

July 12, 1905, 

BY REQUEST OF THE CITIZENS, 

ON THE CELEBRATION OF THE 

Ctorr f^tttrtrrttr ants jftfttetft 2Umt&tr&crj> 

OF 

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN. 

BY 

SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN 

A NATIVE OF THE TOWN. 



SUitl) an &ppcntotj; 



GROTON: 

1905. 



fl4 



Gift 
Author 
(Person) 

s 



To the Memory 

OF 

Cf)e Carlp Settlers of Proton, 

TO WHOM IN MANY WAYS THE PRESENT INHABITANTS 

OWE SO MUCH, THESE PAGES ARE 

INSCRIBED. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



On this interesting occasion we all miss the presence of one 
whose form and figure were familiar to every man, woman, 
and child in town ; and only a few months ago we were all 
looking forward to the time when he would take a promi- 
nent part in these exercises of to-day. Some of us remember 
the Bi-centennial Celebration which took place a half-century 
ago, and a few of us now in this assembly were present at 
that gathering. We recall the grace and dignity with which 
he, the president of the day, performed the duties of his 
office, both in the meeting-house where the historical address 
was given, and in the tent where the after-dinner speeches 
were made. Whenever or wherever his services were needed, 
whether in the councils of the State or of the nation, they were 
always cheerfully rendered ; and in this quiet village his aid 
and advice, often sought by his townsfolk, were always freely 
given. In many walks of life, both lofty and lowly, his re- 
moval will be keenly felt; but here among his old-time neigh- 
bors more than elsewhere, the loss is a personal one, and 
comes home to us all. We miss him now at this time more 
than words can tell. When death strikes such a man, who has 
led a blameless life, and whose bodily frame has become en- 
feebled by the infirmities of age, his departure is not a cause 
for sorrow ; but rather it is an occasion for devout gratitude to 
Heaven and for heartfelt thanksgivings that he was spared to 
us during so many years. The noble example of such a one 
is as lasting as the countless ages of time, and is never lost, 
for the continuity of life keeps up the thread of connection. 
He died at an advanced age in the fulness of all his mental 



and intellectual powers, which seemed to strengthen as the 
years rolled by. Truly he was the Grand Old Man of the 
Commonwealth ! As long as the town of Groton shall have 
a municipal existence, the memory and traditions connected 
with the name of Boutwell will be counted among her richest 
treasures. 

The story of this town has been told so many times, both 
in printed book and public address, that now I shall not 
repeat the tale. I might give a narrative of the trials and 
hardships, suffered equally by brave men and resolute women, 
during the first century of the settlement ; I might tell how 
the town was attacked by the Indians and burnt, and how the 
inhabitants were driven away from their homes and com- 
pelled for a while to abandon the place ; how on various 
occasions men were killed by the savages, families broken up, 
and children carried off into captivity ; and how oftentimes 
from the failure of crops they were pinched by want; and 
how they endured other privations, — but a relation of these 
facts at this time would be as tedious as a twice-told tale. 
Instead of describing the sad and dreadful experiences of the 
early settlers, and the destruction of their homes by fire and 
hideous ruin, I shall confine myself to other topics, and speak 
of some of the conditions of their day, bringing the account 
down to a later period, and touching on a few of the more 
important events in our local history. 

In early Colonial days a town did not become a municipal 
corporation by formal vote of the General Court, with power 
to act as one person, but a grant of land, sometimes con- 
taining many thousand acres, was made to a body of men 
under certain conditions, which was practically a quasi form 
of incorporation. The most important of these conditions 
was the speedy settlement of a Godly minister, and often 
another condition was that those persons who received land 
should build houses thereon within a stated period of time. 
Sometimes a board of selectmen was named by the Legis- 
lature, who should look after the prudential affairs of the 
town until their successors were chosen. In those days this 
course was substantially the only formality needed in order 



to give local self-government to a new community. The 
term " prudential affairs " was a convenient expression, 
intended to cover anything required by a town which pru- 
dence would dictate. 

In the early records of the Colony the proceedings of the 
General Court, as a rule, were not dated day by day, — 
though there are many exceptions, — but the beginning of 
the session is always given, and occasionally the days of the 
month are entered. These dates in the printed edition of 
the Records are frequently carried along without authority, 
sometimes covering a period of several days, or even a week 
or more ; and for this reason often it is impossible to tell the 
exact date of any particular legislation when there are no 
contemporaneous documents on file which bear on the sub- 
ject. In some instances papers are found among the State 
Archives or elsewhere, which fix the date of such legislation 
that is wanting in the official records. 

For these reasons it is impossible to tell to a dot or a day, 
with entire certainty, when the town of Groton began its 
municipal life or official existence, — .or, in other words, when 
it was " incorporated," as the modern expression is. With- 
out any doubt the date was near the end of May, 1655, Old 
Style. It must have been after May 23, as on that day the 
General Court began its session ; and it was before May 29, 
when the next entry in the records appears. Fortunately 
there is still preserved among the manuscripts of the New- 
England Historic Genealogical Society a contemporary rec- 
ord of the action of the General Court in regard to the 
matter. This interesting old paper, officially attested by 
Edward Rawson, Secretary of the Colony, and by William 
Torrey, Clerk of the Deputies, was given to that Society by 
the late Charles Woolley, for many years an honored resident 
of Groton. This document was signed on May 25, the day 
when the Assistants, or Magistrates as they are often called, 
granted the petition, and apparently at the same time the 
House of Deputies took concurrent action. At that period 
the Assistants formed the body of law-makers which is 
known to-day as the State Senate; and at that time the 



House of Deputies corresponded to the present House of 
Representatives. 

It may be proper to add that the Groton Historical Society- 
owns a contemporaneous copy of the record made near the 
time of the Grant by Edward Rawson, Secretary of the 
Colony, which is dated May 23, 1655. It was found among 
the papers of the late John Boynton, a former town-clerk of 
Groton, and may have been sent, soon after the settlement of 
the town, to the selectmen for their information and guidance. 
Perhaps the Secretary took the first day of the General Court, 
as in England before April 8, 1793, all laws passed at a ses- 
sion of Parliament went into effect from the first day, unless 
there was some enactment to the contrary. 

But whatever the date, be it a few days more or less, the 
substance is always of greater importance than the shadow ; 
so it is of less moment to learn the exact time of the order 
than it is to know that the town has now reached the ripe 
old age of two centuries and a half, and that she wears the 
dignity of her increasing years like a crown of glory. 

Besides Groton the only two other towns established in the 
year 1655 by the Colony of Massachusetts Bay were Billerica 
and Chelmsford ; and singularly enough all three were con- 
tiguous townships, all lying in the same county, and all three 
" incorporated " within a very few days of each other. It 
should be borne in mind that originally the town of Westford 
was a part of the territory of Chelmsford. Why these three 
adjoining towns were thus created at this particular time 
may not have been a mere coincidence. It may have been 
the result of a certain condition of political ins and outs at 
that early period of Colonial history which now cannot be 
explained. 

The Charter, duly given by Charles I., was abrogated by 
the English courts in the summer of 1684. The action was 
considered by the Colonists as little short of a gross outrage, 
and caused much confusion in public affairs as well as hard 
feeling among the people. Says Palfrey, in his " History 
of New England" (IV. 5), "The charter of Massachusetts, 
the only unquestionable title of her citizens to any rights, 



proprietary, social, or political, had been vacated by regular 
process in the English courts." It was vacated by a decree 
in Chancery, on June 21, 1684, which was confirmed on 
October 23 of the same year. On May 25, 1686, Joseph 
Dudley, a native of Roxbury, under a commission from King 
James II. became President of New England, with jurisdiction 
over the whole region. This office he held for seven months, 
until December 30, when Edmund Andros became Governor 
of New England, appointed by James II. He proved to be a 
highly arbitrary officer, and was deposed by a revolution of 
the people, on April 18, 1689. Andros was followed by 
Simon Bradstreet, who was Governor from May 24, 1689, to 
May 14, 1692. He was the grandfather of Dudley Bradstreet, 
an early minister of this town, which gives an additional in- 
terest to his name at this time. During this period another 
Charter, signed by William and Mary, on October 7, 1691, 
and now known as the Second Charter, became operative. 
Under this instrument the Colony was made a Province, which 
is a lower grade of political existence, as it has fewer privi- 
leges and more restrictions as to the rights of the people. 
From June, 1684, when the First Charter was vacated, till 
May, 1692, when the Second Charter went into operation, 
the time is generally spoken of as the Inter-Charter period, 
and is an exceptional one in the history of Massachusetts and 
New England. 

The first settlers of the town came here less than one gen- 
eration after the Colonial Charter of Massachusetts Bay was 
granted by Charles I. They represented a rugged race, will- 
ing to undergo hardships in daily life, and expecting to meet 
danger from many sources. Under adverse conditions they 
pushed into the wilderness and made their homes in a region 
little known to the white man. They were a brave band, and 
took their trials and troubles with a readiness worthy of all 
praise. The new township lay on the frontiers, and all 
beyond was a desolate wild. It stood on the outer edge of 
civilization, and for a time served as a barrier against Indian 
attacks on the inlying settlements. The lot of a frontiers- 
man, even under favorable conditions, is never a happy one, 



IO 

but at that period, particularly when cut off from neighbors 
and deprived of all social and commercial intercourse with 
other towns, and in an age when newspapers and postal privi- 
leges were unknown, his lot was indeed hard. In after-years 
this experience told on the settlers to their credit and bene- 
fit, and made the bold character that cropped out in later 
generations when there was need of such stuff. The laws of 
heredity are not well enough known for us to trace closely 
cause and effect ; but the lives led by the early pioneers of 
the Colony had their fruitage in the wars of the next century. 
These laws work in a subtle and mysterious way and cannot 
be defined, but the hardships of one generation toughen the 
fibre of the next. Given a strong body and a high standard 
of morality, and the offspring will show the inherited traits. 
Every farmer in this town knows that a strain of blood and 
breed will tell on his domestic stock. As flowers, by a pro- 
cess not revealed to us, select the tint of delicate colors from 
the swampy bogs of nature, so the toils of life weave the warp 
and the woof which make up noble character. " The web of 
our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." 

It was once wittily said by a writer, — so distinguished in 
his day that I hardly know whether to speak of him as a poet 
or a physician, but whom all will recognize as the Autocrat 
of the Breakfast Table, — that a man's education begins a 
hundred years before he is born. I am almost tempted to 
add that even then he is putting on only the finishing touches 
of his training. A man is a composite being, both in body 
and soul, with a long line of ancestry whose beginnings it is 
impossible to trace ; and every succeeding generation only 
helps to foster and weld together the various and innumerable 
qualities which make up his own personality, though they 
be modified by countless circumstances that form his later 
education, and for which he alone is responsible. 

The first comers to Massachusetts brought from their 
English homes a love of personal freedom and liberty. For 
generations this feeling had not been encouraged there by the 
royal authorities; and its growth, hampered by many ob- 
stacles, had been slow. These settlers were a hard-working 



1 1 

set and a God-fearing people, and of the right stock to found 
a nation. Here the new conditions enabled them to give free 
scope to their actions, and the natural drift of events was all 
toward individual independence in its widest sense. There 
was no law against conventicles or non-conformists, and for 
that period of time there was great liberality of sentiment on 
the part of the Colonists. For centuries the microbic atoms 
of independence had been kept alive in England, and from 
one generation to another they handed down the germs 
which developed in the new world, and bore fruit in the 
American Revolution. From the time of King John, who, 
on June 15, 121 5, signed the Great Charter of the Liberties of 
England, the recognition of human rights was advancing in the 
mother country slowly but steadily ; and the new settlers, in- 
fected with similar ideas, brought with them the spirit of these 
political principles. The development of broad views was 
gradual, but on every advance the wheels were blocked behind, 
and the gain was held. Each separate step thus taken led 
finally to the Declaration of Independence, which was the 
culmination of political freedom. Based on this instrument, 
and following it closely both in spirit and in point of time, was 
the written Constitution of the United States, which has served 
as a model for so many different governments. 

Less than one generation passed between the time when 
the Charter of Charles I. was given to the Colony of Massa- 
chusetts Bay and the date when the grant of Groton Planta- 
tion was made by the General Court. The Charter was 
given on March 4, 1628-9, and the grant of the town was 
made in May, 1655, — the interval being a little more than 
twenty-six years. At that period scarcely anything was known 
about the geography of the region, and the Charter gave to the 
Governor and other representatives of the Massachusetts Com- 
pany, on certain conditions, all the territory lying between an 
easterly and westerly line running three miles north of any 
part of the Merrimack River and extending from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the Pacific, and a similar parallel line running three 
miles south of any part of the Charles River. Without 
attempting to trace in detail, from the time of the Cabots to 



12 

the days of the Charter, the continuity of the English title to 
this transcontinental strip of territory, it is enough to know 
that the precedents and usages of that period gave to Great 
Britain, in theory at least, undisputed sway over the region, 
and forged every link in the chain of authority and sovereignty. 
At the time of the Charter it was incorrectly supposed that 
America was a narrow strip of land, — perhaps an arm of the 
continent of Asia, — and that the distance across from ocean 
to ocean was comparatively short. It was then known that 
the Isthmus of Darien was narrow, and it was therefore 
thought that the whole continent also was narrow. New 
England was a region about which little was known beyond 
slight examinations made from the coast line. The rivers 
were unexplored, and all knowledge concerning them was 
confined to the neighborhood of the places where they 
emptied into the sea. The early navigators thought that the 
general course of the Merrimack was easterly and westerly, 
as it runs in that direction near the mouth; and their error 
was perpetuated inferentially by the words of the Charter. 
By later explorations this strip of territory has since been 
lengthened out into a belt three thousand miles long, and 
stretches across the whole width of a continent. The cities of 
Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, and Milwaukee 
all lie within this zone, on territory that once belonged to the 
Massachusetts Company, according to the Charter granted 
by King Charles. 

The general course of the Merrimack, as well as its source, 
soon became known to the early settlers on the coast. The 
northern boundary of the original grant to the Colony of 
Massachusetts Bay was established under a misapprehension; 
and this ignorance of the topography of the country on the 
part of the English authorities afterward gave rise to con- 
siderable controversy between the adjoining Provinces of 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. So long as the territory 
in question remained unsettled, the dispute was a matter of 
little practical importance ; but after a while it assumed grave 
proportions and led to much confusion. Grants made by 
one Province clashed with those made by the other; and 



13 

there was no ready tribunal to decide the claims of the two 
parties. Towns were chartered by Massachusetts in territory 
claimed by New Hampshire; and this action was the cause 
of bitter feeling and provoking legislation. Massachusetts 
contended for the tract of land " nominated in the bond," 
which would carry the jurisdictional line fifty miles north- 
ward, into the very heart of New Hampshire ; and, on the 
other hand, that Province strenuously opposed this view of 
the case, and claimed that the line should run, east and west, 
three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack River. In 
order to settle these conflicting claims, a Royal Commission 
was appointed to consider the subject and establish the con- 
tested line. The Commissioners were selected from the 
councillors of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, Nova 
Scotia, and Rhode Island, — men supposed to be free from 
any local prejudices in the matter, and impartial in their 
feelings; and without doubt they were such. The board, as 
appointed under the Great Seal, consisted of nineteen mem- 
bers, although only seven served in their capacity as Com- 
missioners. They met at Hampton, New Hampshire, on 
August i, 1737; and for mutual convenience the Legislative 
Assemblies of the two Provinces met in the same neighbor- 
hood, — the Assembly of New Hampshire at Hampton Falls, 
and that of Massachusetts at Salisbury, places only five miles 
apart. This was done in order that the claims of each side 
might be considered with greater despatch than they other- 
wise would receive. The General Court of Massachusetts 
met at Salisbury, in the First Parish Meeting-house, on 
August 10, 1737, and continued to hold its sessions in that 
town until October 20, inclusive, though with several adjourn- 
ments, of which one was for thirty-five days. The printed 
journal of the House of Representatives, during this period, 
gives the proceedings of that body, which contain much in 
regard to the controversy besides the ordinary business of 
legislation. Many years previously the two Provinces had 
been united so far as to have the same governor, — at this 
time Jonathan Belcher, — but each Province had its own 
legislative body and code of laws. 



The Commissioners heard both sides of the question, and 
agreed upon an award in alternative, leaving to the king the 
interpretation of the charters given respectively by Charles I. 
and William and Mary. Under one interpretation the deci- 
sion was in favor of Massachusetts, and under the other in 
favor of New Hampshire ; and at the same time each party 
was allowed six weeks to file objections. Neither side, 
however, was satisfied with this indirect decision ; and the 
whole matter was then taken to the king in council. Massa- 
chusetts claimed that the Merrimack River began at the conflu- 
ence of the Winnepesaukee and the Pemigewasset Rivers, and 
that the northern boundary of the Province should run, east 
and west, three miles north of this point. On the other hand, 
New Hampshire claimed that the intention of the Charter was 
to establish a northern boundary on a line, running east and 
west, three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack River. 
In this controversy Massachusetts seems to have based her 
claim on the letter of the contract, while New Hampshire 
based hers on the spirit of the contract. 

The strongest argument in favor of Massachusetts is the 
fact that she had always considered the disputed territory as 
belonging to her jurisdiction ; and before this period she had 
chartered twenty-four towns lying within the limits of the 
tract. These several settlements all looked to her for protec- 
tion, and naturally sympathized with her during the contro- 
versy. As just stated, neither was satisfied with the verdict 
of the Royal Commissioners, and both sides appealed from 
their judgment. The matter was then taken to England for 
a decision, which was given by the king, on March 4, 1739- 
40. His judgment was final, and in favor of New Hampshire. 
It gave to that Province not only all the territory in dispute, 
but a strip of land fourteen miles in width lying along her 
southern border, — mostly west of the Merrimack, — which 
she had never claimed. This strip was the tract of land 
between the line running east and west three miles north of 
the southernmost trend of the river, and a similar line three 
miles north of its mouth. By this decision many townships 
were taken from Massachusetts and given to New Hampshire. 



15 

The settlement of this disputed question was undoubtedly a 
great public benefit, but at the time it caused a good deal 
of hard feeling. The new line was established by surveyors 
officially in the spring of 1741. 

In regard to the divisional line between the two Provinces 
lying east of the Merrimack, there was much less uncertainty, 
as, in a general way, it followed the bend of the river, and for 
that reason there was much less controversy over the juris- 
diction. Many of you, doubtless, have noticed on a map the 
tier of towns which fringe the north bank of the Merrimack, 
between the city of Lowell and the mouth of the river; and, 
perhaps, you have wondered why those places, which from a 
geographical point of view belong to the State of New Hamp- 
shire, should come now within the limits of Massachusetts. 
The explanation of this seeming incongruity goes back to the 
date of the first Charter, now more than two hundred and 
seventy-five years ago. 

I have given an account of this dispute in some detail as 
the town of Groton was a party to the controversy and took 
a deep interest in the result. It was by this decision of the 
king that the town lost all that portion of its territory which 
lies now within the limits of the city of Nashua ; but it did 
not suffer nearly so much as our neighbor, the town of Dun- 
stable, suffered by the same decision. At that time she re- 
ceived a staggering blow, and her loss, indeed, was a grievous 
one. Originally she was a large township containing 128,000 
acres of land, situated on both sides of the Merrimack; and 
she was so cut in two by the running of the new line that by 
far the larger part of her territory came within the jurisdic- 
tion of New Hampshire. Even the meeting-house and the 
burying-ground, both so closely and dearly connected with 
the early life of our people, were separated from that portion 
of the town still remaining in Massachusetts ; and this fact 
added not a little to the animosity felt by the inhabitants when 
the disputed question was settled. It is no exaggeration to 
say that throughout the old township and all along the line 
of the borders from the Merrimack to the Connecticut, the 
feelings and sympathies were wholly with Massachusetts. 



i6 

Thus cut in twain, there were two adjoining towns bearing 
the same name, the one in Massachusetts, and the other in 
New Hampshire ; and thus they remained for nearly a cen- 
tury. This similarity of designation was the source of con- 
siderable confusion which lasted until the New Hampshire 
town, on January I, 1837, took the name of Nashua, after the 
river from which its prosperity largely is derived. 

By the same decision of the king our other adjoining neigh- 
bor, Townsend, — for at that time Pepperell had not as yet 
taken on a separate municipal existence, — was deprived of 
more than one quarter of her territory ; and the present towns 
of Brookline, Mason, and New Ipswich in New Hampshire 
now are reaping the benefit of what she then lost. 

Enough of the original Groton Plantation, however, was left 
to furnish other towns and parts of towns with ample material 
for their territory. On November 26, 1742, the west parish 
of Groton was set off as a precinct. It comprised all that 
part of the town lying on the west side of the Nashua River, 
north of the old road leading from Groton to Townsend, and 
now known as Pepperell. Its incorporation as a parish or pre- 
cinct allowed the inhabitants to manage their own ecclesias- 
tical affairs, while in all other matters they continued to act 
with the parent town. Its partial separation gave them the 
benefit of a settled minister in their neighborhood, which in 
those days was considered of great importance. 

It is an interesting fact to note that in early times the main 
reason given in the petitions for dividing towns was the long 
distance to the meeting-house, by which the inhabitants were 
prevented from hearing the stated preaching of the gospel. 
At the present day I do not think that this argument is ever 
urged by those who favor the division of a township. 

On April 12, 1753, when the Act was signed by the Gov- 
ernor, the west parish of Groton was made a district, — the 
second step toward its final and complete separation from 
the mother town. At this period the Crown authorities were 
jealous of the growth of the popular party in the House of 
Representatives, and for that reason they frowned on every 
attempt to increase the number of its members. This fact 



17 

had some connection with the tendency, which began to crop 
out during Governor Shirley's administration, to form districts 
instead of towns, thereby withholding their representation. 
At this date the west parish, under its changed political con- 
ditions, took the name of Pepperrell, and was vested with still 
broader powers. It was so called after Sir William Pepperrell, 
who had successfully commanded the New England troops 
against Louisburg; and the name was suggested, doubtless, 
by the Reverend Joseph Emerson, the first settled minister 
of the parish. He had accompanied that famous expedition 
in the capacity of chaplain, only the year before he had re- 
ceived a call for his settlement, and the associations with the 
commander were fresh in his memory. The hero of the cap- 
ture of Louisburg always wrote his surname with a double 
"r"; and for many years the district followed that custom, 
and spelled the name with two " r's," but gradually the town 
dropped one of these letters. It was near the beginning of 
the nineteenth century that the present orthographic form of 
the word became general. 

In the session of the General Court which met at Watertown, 
on July 19, 1775, Pepperell was represented by a member, 
and at that time practically acquired the rights and privileges 
of a town without any special act of incorporation. Other 
similar districts were likewise represented, in accordance with 
the precept calling that body together, and thus they obtained 
municipal rights without the usual formality. The precedent 
seems to have been set by the First Provincial Congress of 
Massachusetts, which met in the autumn of 1774, and was 
made up of delegates from the districts as well as from the 
towns. It was a revolutionary step taken outside of the law; 
and the informality led to a general Act, passed on August 23, 
1775, which legalized the change. 

Shirley, unlike Pepperell, was never incorporated as a pre- 
cinct, but was set off as a district on January 5, 1753, three 
months before Pepperell was set off as one. In the Act of In- 
corporation the name was left blank, — as it was previously 
in the case of Harvard, and soon afterward in that of 
Pepperell, — and "Shirley" was filled in at the time of its 

3 



i8 

engrossment. It was so named after William Shirley, the 
Governor of the Province at that period. It never was incor- 
porated specifically as a town, but became one by a general Act 
of the Legislature, passed on August 23, 1775. While a dis- 
trict it was represented in the session of the General Court 
which met at Watertown, on July 19, 1775, as well as repre- 
sented in the First Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, 
and thus tacitly acquired the dignity of a town, which was 
afterward confirmed by the Act, just mentioned. 

These two townships, Pepperell and Shirley, were the first 
settlements to swarm from the original Plantation. With the 
benediction of the mother they left the parent hive, and on all 
occasions have proved to be dutiful daughters in whom the 
old town has always taken a deep pride. In former years, 
before the days of railroads, these two towns were closely iden- 
tified with Groton, and the social intercourse between them 
was very intimate. If the families of the three towns were not 
akin to one another, in a certain sense they were neighbors. 

The latest legislation connected with the dismemberment 
of the original grant, — and perhaps the last for many years 
to come, — is the Act of February 14, 1 871, by which the 
town of Ayer was incorporated. This enactment took from 
Groton a large section of territory lying near its southern 
borders, and from Shirley all that part of the town on the 
easterly side of the Nashua River which was annexed to it 
from Groton, on February 6, 1798. 

Thus has the old Groton Plantation, during a period of two 
hundred and fifty years, been hewn and hacked down to less 
than one half of its original dimensions. Formerly it con- 
tained 40,960 acres, while now the amount of taxable land 
wkhin the town is 19,850 acres. It has furnished, substantially, 
the entire territory of Pepperell, Shirley, and Ayer, more than 
one half of Dunstable, and has contributed more or less to 
form five other towns, — namely, Harvard, Littleton, and 
Westford, in Massachusetts, besides Nashua and Hollis, in 
New Hampshire. 

The early settlers of Groton, like all other persons of that 
period of time or of any period, had their limitations. They 



19 

were lovers of political freedom, and they gave the largest 
liberty to all, — so far as it related to their physical condition ; 
but in matters of religious belief it was quite otherwise. With 
them it was an accepted tradition, — perhaps with us not 
entirely outgrown, — that persons who held a different faith 
from themselves were likely to have a lower standard of mo- 
rality. They saw things by a dim light, they saw " through 
a glass darkly." They beheld theological objects by the help 
of dipped candles, and they interpreted religion and its rela- 
tions to life accordingly. We living two hundred and fifty 
years later can bring to bear the electric light of science and 
modern discovery. We have a great advantage over what 
they had, and let us use it fairly. Let us be just to them, as 
we hope for justice from those who will follow us. Let us 
remember that the standards of daily life change from one 
century to another. Perhaps in future generations, when we 
are judged, the verdict of posterity will be against us rather 
than against the early comers. More has been given to us 
than was given to them, and we shall be held responsible in 
a correspondingly larger measure. It is not the number 
of talents with which we have been entrusted that will tell 
in our favor, but the sacred use we make of them. In 
deciding this question, two centuries and a half hence, I am 
by no means sure of the judgment that history will render. 
Do we as a nation give all men a square deal ? The author 
of the Golden Rule was color-blind, and in its application 
he made no difference between the various races of mankind. 
This rule applied to the black man equally with the white 
man. Do we now give our African brother a fair chance? 
It is enough for us to try to do right, and let the conse- 
quences be what they will. " Hew up to the chalk line, and 
let the chips fly where they may," once said Wendell Phillips. 
We hear much nowadays about the simple life, but that was 
the life lived by the settlers, and taught to their children, 
both by precept and example. Austere in their belief, they 
practised those homely virtues which lie at the base of all 
civilization; and we of to-day owe much to their memory. 
They prayed for the wisdom that cometh from above, and 



20 

for the righteousness that exalteth a nation ; and they tried 
to square their conduct by their creed. 

The early settlers were a plain folk, and they knew little of 
the pride and pomposity of later times. To sum up briefly 
their social qualities, I should say that they were neighborly 
to a superlative degree, which means much in country life. 
They looked after the welfare of their neighbors who were 
not so well off in this world's goods as they themselves, they 
watched with them when they were sick, and sympathized 
with them when death came into their families. In cold 
weather they hauled wood for the widows, and cut it up and 
split it for them ; and when a beef " crittur " or a hog was 
killed, no one went hungry. When a man met with an ac- 
cident and had a leg broken, the neighbors saw that his crops 
were gathered, and that all needful work was done; and 
after a heavy snow-storm in winter, they turned to and broke 
out the roads and private ways with sleds drawn by many yoke 
of oxen belonging in the district. Happily all this order of 
things is not yet a lost art, but in former times the custom 
was more thoroughly observed, and spread over a much wider 
region than now prevails. When help was needed in private 
households, they never asked, like the lawyer of old, "And who 
is my neighbor? " They always stretched out their hands to 
the poor, and they reached forth their hands to the needy. 

To us it seems almost pathetic, certainly amusing, to see 
how closely they connected their daily life with the affairs of 
the church. As a specimen I will give an instance found in 
the note-book of the Reverend John Fiske, of Chelmsford. 
It seems that James Parker, James Fiske, and John Nutting 
wished to remove from Chelmsford and take up their abode in 
this town. The subject of their removal was brought before 
the church there in the autumn of 1661, when they desired 
the " loving leave " of their brethren so to do, as well as 
prayers that the blessing of God might accompany them to 
their new homes. The meeting was held on November 9, 
1661, when some discussion took place and considerable 
feeling was shown. Mr. Fiske, the pastor, shrewdly declined 
to commit himself in the matter; or, according to the record, 



21 

declined to speak on the question "one way or the other, but 
desired that the brethren might manifest themselves." At the 
conference one brother said that there was no necessity for 
the removal, and hoped that the three members would give 
up their intention to remove, and would remain in Chelms- 
ford. Reading between the lines it seems as if this town had 
invited the three men to settle here ; and Brother Parker 
speaking for ihem (" in the plural number") said that God's 
hand was to be seen in the whole movement. The same hand 
which brought them to Chelmsford now pointed to Groton. 
Apparently the meeting was a protracted one, and " scarce 
a man in the Church but presently said the grounds, the 
grounds." This was another form of calling for the ques- 
tion, — in other words, for the reasons of the removal, 
whether valid or not. While the decision of the conference 
is not given in exact language, inferentially it was in favor of 
their going, — as they were here in December, 1662. James 
Parker was a deacon of the Chelmsford church; and perhaps 
there had been some slight disagreement between him and 
a few of the other members. Evidently he was one of the 
pillars of the body at Chelmsford ; and at once he became 
a deacon at Groton. To us now it is amusing to see what a 
commotion in the church was raised because these three 
families purposed to remove to another town. " Behold, how 
great a matter a little fire kindleth." Fortunately for this 
town James Parker, James Fiske, and John Nutting with their 
households came hither to live, where they all became useful 
and influential citizens far above the average. In his day 
James Parker was the most prominent man in Groton, filling 
many civil and military positions ; the next year after coming 
James Fiske was chosen selectman, and later town-clerk; and 
John Nutting was appointed surveyor of highways. There 
are in this audience, doubtless, at the present moment many 
descendants of these three pioneers who had so many obsta- 
cles thrown in their way before taking up their abode here. 
If these families had not removed hither at that early period, 
perhaps their descendants now would be celebrating anniver- 
saries elsewhere rather than here, and might never have known 



22 

what they lost by the change in their respective birthplaces. 
Without being able to call them by name or to identify them 
in any way, to all such I offer the greetings of this gathering 
on the good judgment shown by their ancestors. 

This town took its name from Groton, Co. Suffolk, England, 
which was the native place of Deane Winthrop, one of the 
original petitioners for Groton Plantation. His name stands 
at the head of the list of selectmen appointed in 1655 by the 
General Court; and to-day we should give him the title of 
Chairman of the Board. He was a son of John Winthrop 
who came to New England in 1630 as Governor of Massachu- 
setts ; and it was in compliment to him that the name of his 
birthplace was given to the town. Without much doubt he 
was a resident here for a few years ; and in this opinion I 
am supported by a distinguished member of that family, 
now deceased, who some time ago wrote me as follows : 

Boston, 27 February, 1878. 

My dear Dr. Green, — It would give me real pleasure to aid 
you in establishing the relations of Deane Winthrop to the Town of 
Groton in Massachusetts. But there are only three or four letters 
of Deane's among the family papers in my possession, and not one of 
them is dated Groton. Nor can I find in any of the family papers a 
distinct reference to his residence there. 

There are, however, two brief notes of his, both dated "the 16 of 
December, 1662," which I cannot help thinking may have been 
written at Groton. One of them is addressed to his brother John, 
the Governor of Connecticut, who was then in London, on business 
connected with the Charter of Connecticut. In this note, Deane 
says as follows : — 

" I have some thoughts of removing from the place that I now 
live in, into your Colony, if I could lit of a convenient place. The 
place that I now live in is too little for me, my children now 
growing up." 

We know that Deane Winthrop was at the head of the first Board 
of Selectmen of Groton a few years earlier, and that he went to reside 
at Pullen Point, now called Winthrop, not many years after. 

I am strongly inclined to think with you that this note of December, 
1662, was written at Groton. 

Yours very truly, 

Samuel A. Green, M. D. Robt. C. WlNTHROP. 



23 

During my boyhood I always had a strong desire to visit 
Groton in England, which gave its name to this town and 
indirectly to six other towns in the United States. Strictly 
speaking, it is not a town, but a parish ; and there are tech- 
nical distinctions between the two. More than fifty years 
ago I was staying in London, and as a stranger in that great 
metropolis, even after many inquiries I found much difficulty 
in learning the best way to reach the little village. All my 
previous knowledge in regard to the place was limited to the 
fact that it lay in the county of Suffolk, near its southern 
border. After a somewhat close study of a Railway Guide, 
I left London by rail for Sudbury, which is the only town of 
considerable size in the immediate neighborhood of Groton. 
After changing trains at a railway junction, of which the name 
has long since faded from my memory, I found myself in a 
carriage alone with a fellow-passenger, who was both courte- 
ous and communicative, and thoroughly acquainted with the 
country through which we were passing. On telling him the 
purpose of my visit, he seemed to be much interested, and 
told me in return that he was very familiar with the parish of 
Groton ; and he had many questions to ask about our good 
old town, which I was both able and glad to answer. It soon 
turned out that my hitherto unknown friend was Sir Henry 
E. Austen, of Chelsworth, Hadleigh, who, on reaching Sud- 
bury, gave me a note of introduction to Richard Almack, Esq., 
of Long Melford, which I used a day or two afterward with 
excellent results. From Sudbury I drove in a dog-cart to 
Boxford, where I tarried over night at the White Horse Inn, 
and in the morning walked over to Groton, less than a mile 
distant. This place, — the object of my pilgrimage, — I found 
to be a typical English village of the olden time, very small 
both in territory and population, and utterly unlike any of its 
American namesakes. Its history goes back many genera- 
tions, even to a period before Domesday Book, which was 
ordered by William the Conqueror more than eight hundred 
years ago, and which registers a survey of the lands of Eng- 
land made at that early date. The text is in Latin, and the 
words are much shortened. The writing is peculiar and hard 



24 

to read ; but it gives some interesting statistics in regard to 
the place. 

On reaching the end of my trip I called at once on 
the rector, who received me very kindly and offered to go 
with me to the church, which invitation I readily accepted. 
He expressed much interest in the New England towns bear- 
ing the name of Groton, and spoke of a visit made to the 
English town, a few years previously, by the Honorable Robert 
C. Winthrop, of Boston, which gave him great pleasure. We 
walked over the grounds of the old manor, once belonging 
to John Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts ; and 
Groton Place, the residence of the lord of the manor at that 
time, was pointed out, as well as a solitary mulberry-tree, 
which stood in Winthrop's garden, and is now the last vestige 
of the spot. In strolling over the grounds I picked up some 
acorns under an oak, which were afterward sent home to my 
father and planted here, but unfortunately they did not come 
up. I remember with special pleasure the attentions of Mr. 
R. F. Swan, who took me to a small school of little children, 
where the teacher told the scholars that I had come from 
another Groton across the broad ocean. He also kindly 
made for me a rough tracing of the part of the parish in 
which I was more particularly interested ; and as I had left 
the inn at Boxford when he called, he sent it by private hands 
to me at the Sudbury railway-station. All these little cour- 
tesies and many more I recollect with great distinctness, 
and they add much to the pleasant memories of my visit to 
the ancestral town, which has such a numerous progeny of 
municipal descendants in the United States. 

Of this large family our town, now celebrating the two hun- 
dred and fiftieth anniversary of its birth, is the eldest; and as 
the " first-born, higher than the kings of the earth." 

The next child in the order of descent is the town in Con- 
necticut, — younger than this town by just half a century, and 
during the Revolution the scene of the heroic Ledyard's 
death. It was so named in the year 1705, during the Gov- 
ernorship of Fitz-John Winthrop, out of respect to the Suffolk 
home of the family. In population this is the largest of the 



25 

various towns bearing the name, and contains several thriving 
villages. It is situated on the east bank of the Thames River, 
in New London County. 

The next town in age is the one in Grafton County, New 
Hampshire, which was originally granted by the Legislature 
of that State as early as July 3, 1761, under the name of 
Cockermouth,and re-granted on November 22, 1766; but the 
present name of Groton was not given until December 7, 
1796. It was chosen by certain inhabitants of the place, who 
were connected either by birth or through kindred with this 
town. The population is small, and the principal pursuit of 
the people is farming, though there are eight or ten saw- 
mills within its limits. Mica is found in great abundance, 
and forms the basis of an important industry. There is a 
Spectacle Pond, lying partly within the town, of which 
the name may have gone from this neighborhood. There 
are two villages in the township, the one known as 
North Groton, perhaps the more important, and the other 
situated near the southerly border, and known as Groton. 
Between these two villages, in the centre of the territory, are 
the town-house, and an old burying-ground where fifteen 
years ago I examined many of the epitaphs and found a few 
family names that are still common here in our burying- 
ground. 

The fourth child in the municipal family is the town of 
Groton, Caledonia County, Vermont, a pretty village lying 
in the Wells River valley, and chartered on October 20, 
1789, though the earliest settlers were living there a few 
years before that date. The first child born in the town was 
Sally, daughter of Captain Edmund and Sally (Wesson) 
Morse, who began her earthly pilgrimage on September 2, 
1787. The father was a native of our town, and principally 
through his influence the name of Groton was given to the 
home of his adoption among the foot-hills of the Green 
Mountains. Wells River runs through the township in a 
southeasterly direction, and with its tributaries affords some 
excellent water-power along its course. This stream rises in 
Groton Pond, a beautiful sheet of water, and empties into the 

4 



26 

Connecticut at Wells River Junction, a railway centre of 
some importance. 

My visit to the town was made on July 26, 1890, and 
while there I called on the Honorable Isaac Newton Hall, one 
of the oldest and most prominent citizens of the place, who 
kindly took me in his buggy through the village, pointing 
out by the way the various objects of public interest. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church, situated at one end of the 
village street, had some memorial windows, of which two had 
inscriptions, as follows: — 

Capt • Edmund • Morse 

Born • Groton ■ Mass ■ 1 764 

Died • Groton ■ Vt • 1843 



Sally • Morse ■ Hill 

Born • 1787 — Died • 1 864 

The " First ■ Person * Born ■ in • Groton 

Before leaving the place I walked through the burying- 
ground and examined some of the epitaphs, but none of the 
names reminded me particularly of the parent town. 

The next town of the name is Groton, Erie County, Ohio, 
which was settled about the year 1809. It was first called 
Wheatsborough, after a Mr. Wheats, who originally owned 
most of the township. It lies in the region known as the Fire 
Lands of Ohio, a tract of half a million acres given by the 
State of Connecticut in May, 1792, to those of her citizens 
who had suffered losses from the enemy during the Revolu- 
tion. Like many other places in the neighborhood, the 
town took its name from the one in Connecticut. 

Late in the autumn of 1889 I happened to be in Nashville,- 
Tennessee, as a member of a committee on business con- 
nected with the Peabody Normal College in that city, of 
which ex-President Hayes was chairman. On telling him 
incidentally that I purposed on my return homeward to stop 
for a short time at Groton, Erie County, Ohio, he kindly in- 
vited me to make him a visit at his home in Fremont, which 



27 

was very near my objective point ; and he said furthermore 
that he would accompany me on my trip to that town, which 
offer I readily accepted. On the morning of November 27 
we left Fremont by rail for Norwalk, the shire town of Huron 
County, — a county in which the township of Groton formerly 
came, — where we alighted, and at once repaired to the rooms 
of the Firelands Historical Society. Here we were met by 
several gentlemen, prominent in the city as well as in the His- 
torical Society, who showed us many attentions. We had an 
opportunity there to examine various objects of interest con- 
nected with the early history of that part of the State. Then 
taking the cars again on our return, we proceeded as far as 
Bellevue, where we left the train. Here at a livery-stable we 
engaged a buggy and a pair of horses, without knowing ex- 
actly to what part of the township I wished to go, as I was 
then told that there was no village of Groton, but only scat- 
tered farms throughout the town. One man, however, said 
that there was a place called Groton Centre, which seemed to 
me both very natural and familiar, and so thither we directed 
our course. After driving over very muddy roads for five or 
six miles, we inquired at a farm-house the way to Groton 
Centre, where we were told that a school-house in sight, half 
a mile off, was the desired place. There was no village what- 
ever to be seen in any direction ; and the building was the 
public voting-place, on which account the neighborhood re- 
ceived the name. The town is entirely agricultural in its 
character, and the land is largely prairie with a rich soil. It is 
small in population, and does not contain even a post-office. 
The inhabitants for their postal facilities depend on Bellevue 
and Sandusky, adjacent places. 

Another town bearing the good name of Groton, which 
I have visited, is the one in Tompkins County, New York. 
More than eighteen years ago I found myself at Cortland, 
Cortland County, New York, where I had gone in order to 
see the venerable Mrs. Sarah Chaplin Rockwood, a native of 
this town. She was a daughter of the Reverend Dr. Chaplin, 
the last minister settled by the town, and at that time she was 
almost one hundred and two years old. By a coincidence 



28 

she was then living on Groton Avenue, a thoroughfare which 
leads to Groton, Tompkins County, a town ten miles distant. 
Taking advantage of my nearness to that place, on May 4, 
1887, I drove there and was set down at the Groton Hotel, 
where I passed the night. Soon after my arrival I took a 
stroll through the village, and then called on Marvin Morse 
Baldwin, Esq., a lawyer of prominence, and the author of an 
historical sketch of the place, published in 1868. The town 
was formed originally, on April 7, 18 17, from Locke, Cayuga 
County, under the name of Division ; but during the next 
year this was changed to Groton, on the petition of the inhab- 
itants, some of whom were from Groton, Massachusetts, and 
others from Groton, Connecticut. The principal village is 
situated on Owasco Inlet, a small stream, and is surrounded 
by a rolling country of great beauty. The population is 
small, and the business chiefly confined to a machine-shop 
and foundry, several carriage-shops, and the making of agri- 
cultural implements. The town supports a National Bank 
and also a weekly newspaper, and has railway communication 
with other places. 

In all these visits to the several towns of the same name, I 
have interested myself to learn the local pronunciation of the 
word. I have asked many persons in all ranks of life and 
grades of society in regard to the matter, and without excep- 
tion they have given it " Graw-ton," which every " native here, 
and to the manner born " knows so well how to pronounce. 
It has never been Grow-ton, or Grot-ton even, but always with 
a broad sound on the first and accented syllable. Such was 
the old pronunciation in England, and by the continuity of 
custom and tradition the same has been kept up throughout 
the several settlements in this country bearing the name. 

The latest town aspiring to the honor of the name of Groton 
is in Brown County, South Dakota. It was laid out about 
twenty-two years ago on land owned by the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railway Company. I have been in- 
formed that various New England names were selected by 
the Company and given to different townships along the line, 
not for personal or individual reasons, but because they 



29 

were short and well sounding, and unlike any others in the 
Territory of that period. 

At some future day, if my life be spared long enough, I 
may pay my respects to this youngest child of the name and 
visit her township. In that case I will describe her personal- 
ity and place her in the family group with her elder sisters. 

During two centuries and a half, — the long period of time 
now under consideration, — many changes have taken place 
in the customs and manners of our people. Some of these 
are entirely forgotten, and traces of them are found only in 
the records of the past ; and I purpose to allude to a few. In 
this way a survival of their knowledge may be kept up, which 
will help the present generation in some degree to catch the 
attitude of its ancestors. 

In the early days of New England marriages were per- 
formed by magistrates only, and by other officers appointed 
for that particular purpose. It was many years before minis- 
ters of the Gospel were allowed to take part in the ceremony. 
At a town meeting held here, on December 15, 1669, the 
selectmen were authorized " to petition to the [General] Court 
for one to marry persons in our towne " ; and it is probable 
that before this time persons wishing to be joined in wed- 
lock were obliged either to go elsewhere in order to carry 
out their intention, or else a magistrate or other officer was 
brought for the occasion. At that period the population of 
the town was small, and the marriages were few in number ; 
and before this date only eight couples are found as recorded 
of Groton. Perhaps these marriages were solemnized by a 
Commissioner of Small Causes, who was authorized equally 
with a magistrate to conduct the ceremony. These officers 
were empowered to act in all cases within the jurisdiction of 
a magistrate, and were approved, either by the Court of As- 
sistants or the County Courts, on the request of any town 
where there was no resident magistrate. They were three 
in number in each of such towns, and were chosen by the 
freemen. 

Another instance of a change in early customs is found in 
connection with funerals, which formerly were conducted with 



3° 

severe simplicity. Our pious forefathers were opposed to all 
ecclesiastical rites, and any custom that reminded them of 
the English church met with their stern disapproval. And, 
furthermore, prayers over a corpse were very suggestive of 
those offered up for the dead by the Roman church ; and to 
their minds such ceremonies savored strongly of heresy and 
superstition. A body was taken from the house to the grave, 
and interred without ceremony ; and no religious services 
were held. Funeral prayers in New England were first made 
in the smaller towns before they were in the larger places. 
Their introduction into Boston was of so uncommon occur- 
rence that it caused some comment in a newspaper, as the 
following extract from "The Boston Weekly News-Letter," 
December 31, 1730, will show: — 

Yesterday were Buried here the Remains of that truly honourable 
& devout Gentlewoman, Mrs. SARAH BYFIELD, amidst the affec- 
tionate Respects & Lamentations of a numerous Concourse. — Before 
carrying out the Corpse, a Funeral Prayer was made, by one of the 
Pastors of the Old Church, to whose Communion she belong'd ; 
which, tho' a Custom in the Country-Towns, is a singular Instance in 
this place, but it's wish'd may prove a leading Example to the general 
Practice of so christian & decent a Custom. 

At a funeral the coffin was carried upon a bier to the place 
of interment by pall-bearers, who from time to time were 
relieved by others walking at their side. The bearers usu- 
ally were kinsfolk or intimate friends of the deceased; and 
they were followed by the mourners and neighbors, who 
walked two by two. After the burial the bier was left stand- 
ing over the grave ready for use when occasion should again 
require. 

Many years ago an old citizen of this town told me that 
once he served as a pall-bearer at the funeral of a friend who 
died in Squannacook Village (West Groton). It took place 
near midsummer, in very hot weather; and he related how 
the procession was obliged to halt often in order to give a 
rest to the bearers, who were nearly prostrated by the heat 
during their long march. 



3i 

Hearses were first introduced into Boston about 1796, and 
into Groton a few years later. In the warrant for the Groton 
town-meeting on April 4, 1803, Article No. 7 was 

To see if the town will provide a herse for the town's use, and 
give such directions about the same as they shall think fit. 

In the Proceedings of that meeting, after Article No. 7, it 
is recorded : — 

Voted that the town will provide a herse for the Town's use. 

Voted and chose James Brazer, Esq r Jacob L. Parker, and Joseph 
Sawtell 3? a Committee and directed them to provide a decent herse 
at the Town's expence. 

From the earliest period of our Colonial history training- 
days were appointed by the General Court for the drilling 
of soldiers ; and at intervals the companies used to come 
together as a regiment and practise various military exercises. 
From this custom sprang the regimental muster, so common 
before the War of the Rebellion. 

During a long time, and particularly in the early part of 
the nineteenth century, many such musters were held here. 
A training-field often used for the purpose was the plain, 
situated near the Hollingsworth Paper-mills, a mile and a 
half northerly from the village. Sometimes they were held 
on the easterly side of the road, and at other times on the 
westerly side. During my boyhood musters took place, 
twice certainly, on the eastern slope of the hill on the south 
side of the Broad Meadow Road near Farmers' Row; and 
also, once certainly, in the field lying southeast of Lawrence 
Academy, near where Powder House Road now runs. 

Musters have been held on land back of the late Charles 
Jacobs's house, and, in the autumn of 1850, in a field near the 
dwelling where Benjamin Moors used to live, close by James's 
Brook, in the south part of the town. The last one in Groton, 
or the neighborhood even, took place on September 13 and 
14, 1852, and was held in the south part of the town, near 
the line of the Fitchburg Railroad on its northerly side, some 
distance east of the station. This was a muster of the Fifth 



3 2 

Regiment of Light Infantry, and occurred while Mr. Boutwell 
was Governor of the Commonwealth ; and I remember well 
the reception which he gave to the officers on the intervening 
evening at his house, built during the preceding year. 

Akin to the subject of military matters, was a custom which 
formerly prevailed in some parts of Massachusetts, and per- 
haps elsewhere, of celebrating occasionally the anniversary 
of the surrender of Yorktown, which falls on October 17. 
Such a celebration was called a " Cornwallis " ; and it was in- 
tended to represent, in a burlesque manner, the siege of the 
town, as well as the ceremony of its surrender. The most 
prominent generals on each side would be personated, while 
the men of the two armies would wear what was supposed to 
be their peculiar uniform. I can recall now more than one 
such sham fight that took place in this town during my boy- 
hood. In 10 Cushing, 252, is to be found a decision of the 
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, enjoining a town 
treasurer from paying money that had been appropriated for 
such a celebration. 

James Russell Lowell, in his Glossary to " The Biglow 
Papers," thus defines the word : " Cornwallis, a sort of muster 
in masquerade ; supposed to have had its origin soon after the 
Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender of Lord Corn- 
wallis. It took the place of the old Guy Fawkes procession." 
Speaking in the character of Hosea Biglow, he asks, 

Recollect wut fun we hed, you 'n' I an' Ezry Hollis 

Up there to Waltham plain last fall, along o' the Cornwallis ? 

He further says in a note: " i hait the Sight of a feller with 
a muskit as I du pizn But their is fun to a cornwallis I aint 
agoin' to deny it." 

The last Cornwallis in this immediate neighborhood came 
off about sixty years ago at Pepperell ; and I remember wit- 
nessing it. Another Cornwallis on a large scale occurred at 
Clinton in the year 1853, in which nine uniformed companies 
of militia, including the Groton Artillery, took part. On this 
occasion the burlesque display, both in numbers and details, 
far outshone all former attempts of a similar character, and, 



33 

like the song of the swan, ended a custom that had come 
down from a previous century. At the present day nothing 
is left of this quaint celebration but a faded memory and an 
uncertain tradition. 

The first settlers of Massachusetts brought with them from 
England a good supply of seeds and stones of various fruits, 
grains, and vegetables, which were duly planted. In this way 
was begun the cultivation of apples, pears, peaches, plums, 
cherries, wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, hops, 
currants, etc., and in the course of a few years they raised fair 
crops of all these products. 

As early as 1660 all inn-holders and tavern-keepers were 
required to have a license in order to be allowed to carry on 
their business ; and they were obliged to be approbated by the 
selectmen of the town and to be licensed by the County 
Court. At the same time a restriction was placed on makers 
of cider, who were not allowed to sell by retail, except under 
certain conditions ; " and that it be only to masters of families 
of good and honest report, or persons going to Sea, and they 
suffer not any person to drink the same in their houses, cel- 
lars or yards." This reference, found in " The Book of the 
General Lawes and Libertyes " (Cambridge, 1660), shows 
that at an early date in the history of the Colony the pro- 
hibitory principle was recognized by legislative enactment, 
and that it is by no means a modern idea. The reference 
shows furthermore that cider was made by the settlers at an 
early period. Few persons of the rising generation are aware 
of the great quantities of cider made fifty or seventy-five 
years ago on almost every farm in an agricultural community. 
I am placing the estimate within moderate bounds when I say 
that every good-sized farm in Groton had an apple orchard 
and a cider mill on the premises. Many a farmer would make 
all the way from ten to thirty barrels of cider for home use, 
besides what he would sell elsewhere or make into vinegar ; 
and this large stock was kept in the cellar. There are now 
in this audience men and women who remember how years 
ago they used to suck sweet cider through a long rye straw, 
as it ran from the press. At such times the children were 

5 



34 

often as thick as honey bees round the bung-hole of a hogs- 
head of molasses in summer time. 

Many plants were brought originally to New England from 
other countries for their medicinal virtues, and many were 
introduced by' chance. Some have multiplied so rapidly 
and grown so plentifully in the fields and by the roadside, 
that they are now considered common weeds. Wormwood, 
tansy, chamomile, yarrow, dandelion, burdock, plantain, 
catnip, and mint all came here by importation. These exotic 
plants made their way into the interior, as fast as civilization 
extended in that direction; though in some instances the 
seeds may have been carried by birds in their flight. 

Dr. William Douglass, in " A Summary, Historical and 
Political, of the first Planting, progressive Improvements, 
and present State of the British Settlements in North 
America," published at Boston (Volume I. in the year 
1749, and Volume II. in 1753), says: — 

Near Boston and other great Towns, some Field Plants which 
accidentally have been imported from Europe, spread much, and 
are a great Nusance in Pastures, ... at present they have spread 
Inland from Boston, about 30 Miles (II. 207). 

According to this statement, the pioneers of some of 
these foreign plants or weeds had already reached the town- 
ship of Groton near the middle of the eighteenth century. 
Dr. Douglass gives another fact about the town which may 
be worthy of preservation, as follows : — 

There are some actual Surveys of Extents which ought not to be 
lost in Oblivion ; as for Instance, from Merrimack River due West to 
Groton Meeting-House are 1 2 miles ; from Groton Meeting House (as 
surveyed by Col. Stoddard, Major Fulham, and Mr. Dwight, by 
Order of the General Assembly) to Northfield Meeting-House VV. 
16 d. N. by Compass, are 41 Miles and half (I. 425 note). 

Such surveys, as those given in this extract, were of more 
interest to the public, before the days of railroads, than 
they are now ; but, as the author says, they " ought not to be 
lost in Oblivion." 

The greatest advance in social and moral life during the 



35 

last one hundred and twenty-five years has been in the cause 
of temperance. Soon after the period of the Revolution there 
arose an abuse of spirituous liquors, perhaps induced in part 
by the return home of young men from the army, who while 
absent had acquired the habit of drinking to excess. There 
was no public occasion, from a wedding to a funeral, or from 
the ordination of a minister to the raising of a house or barn, 
when rum in its many Protean shapes was not given out. It 
was set on the festive sideboard, and used freely both by the 
old and young ; and sometimes even the pastor of the church 
yielded to the insidious seduction of the stimulant. Liquors 
were sold at retail at most of the trading shops in town, and 
at the three taverns in the village. The late Elizur Wright, 
an eminent statistician, and nearly eighty years ago a resident 
of Groton, once told me in writing that, according to an esti- 
mate made by him at that period, the amount of New Eng- 
land rum sold here in one year was somewhat over 28,000 
gallons. This was not a guess on his part, but was taken from 
the books of dealers in the fluid, who had kindly complied 
with his request for the amount of their sales during the 
previous year. We judge of the whole from the specimen. 

It is generally supposed that the huge department stores in 
the large cities are a modern institution, so far as they relate 
to the variety of articles sold ; but in this respect they are 
only an imitation of the country store. Fifty years ago the 
average trading shop kept about everything that was sold, 
from a pin to a plough, from silks and satins to stoves and 
shovels, and from tea and coffee to tin dippers and cotton 
drilling, flour, all kinds of dry-goods and groceries, molasses, 
raisins, bricks, cheese, hats, nails, sperm oil, grindstones, boots 
and shoes, drugs and medicines, to say nothing of a supply 
of confectionery for children ; besides a daily barter of any 
of the aforesaid articles for fresh eggs and butter. The 
traders were omnivorous in their dealings, and they kept on 
hand nearly everything that was asked for by the customers. 
In this respect they have set an example to the proprietors 
of department stores, who offer for sale an equally miscel- 
laneous assortment of goods. 



36 

Within the last three-quarters of a century, perhaps the 
most useful invention given to mankind, certainly one very 
widely used, has been the common friction match. Ap- 
parently it is so trifling and inconspicuous that among the 
great discoveries of the nineteenth century it is likely to be 
overlooked. This little article is so cheap that no hovel or 
hamlet throughout Christendom is ever without it, and yet so 
useful that it is found in every house or mansion, no matter 
how palatial, and in every vessel that sails the sea. Bunches 
of matches are made by the millions and millions, and broad 
acres of forests are cut down each year to supply the wood ; 
and in every home they are used without regard to waste or 
economy. " No correct statistics of match making can be 
given, but it has been estimated that six matches a day for 
each individual of the population of Europe and North Amer- 
ica is the average consumption." (The American Cyclopaedia, 
New York, 1883.) Perhaps no other invention of the last 
century comes so nearly in touch with the family and house- 
hold in all parts of the civilized world as this necessity of 
domestic life. 

I have mentioned these facts in some detail as the friction 
match has had such a close connection with country life in 
New England, as elsewhere. In early days when fire was 
kept on the domestic hearth, from month to month and from 
year to year, by covering up live coals with ashes, sometimes 
from one cause or another it would go out; and then it was 
necessary to visit a neighbor to " borrow fire," as the ex- 
pression was. If the distance was short, live coals might be 
brought on a shovel ; but if too far, a lighted candle could 
be carried in a tin lantern and furnish the needed flame. 
Often a flint-and-steel was used for striking fire, but some- 
times even this useful article was wanting. I have heard of 
instances where a man would fire off a gun into a wad of tow 
and set it on fire, and thus get the desired spark to start the 
blaze. 

Another invention, which has come into general use within 
the last sixty years, and has changed the destinies of the 
world, is Morse's electric telegraph. In the sending of mes- 



37 

sages it practically annihilates space, and has worked won- 
ders in science and in the every-day affairs of life. By means 
of it the words of Puck become a reality when he says: 

I '11 put a girdle round about the Earth 
In forty minutes. 

If the ocean telegraph had been in operation at that time, 
the battle of New Orleans, on January 8, 1815, would not 
have been fought. It took place a fortnight after the treaty 
of peace had been signed at Ghent, though the tidings of the 
treaty were not received in this country until a month after 
the action. The chances are that Andrew Jackson would 
never have been President of the United States if he had not 
gained that battle ; nor would Martin Van Buren have suc- 
ceeded to the same high office if as Secretary of State or 
as Vice-President he had not been associated with Jackson. 
This will serve as an illustration of the influence which the 
telegraph may have on human affairs. 

Little short of fifty years ago I spent an evening with Pro- 
fessor Morse at his rooms in Paris, and he told me a thrilling 
tale of the circumstances which led up to his great discovery 
of the application of electricity to the sending of messages; 
and how the thought first came to him many years before, 
when in a packet ship on the voyage from Havre to New 
York. I have often regretted that I did not write down at 
once my recollections of the visit, while they were fresh in 
my memory ; but unfortunately I did not do so. 

A telegraph office in this village was opened on Saturday, 
March 20, 1880, and the first message along its wires was 
sent to Nashua, New Hampshire. The office was in the rail- 
way station, where it has since remained. 

The telephone office here was first opened on Friday, April 
29, 1881, in the building at the south corner of Main Street 
and Station Avenue, where it still remains; and there are 
now more than one hundred and twenty subscribers. 

By the side of the investigations connected with this ad- 
dress I am reminded that the First Parish Meeting-house is 
now one hundred and fifty years old. During one half of this 



38 

period it was the only designated place of worship within the 
limits of the town ; and for these seventy-five years it was the 
centre of the religious life of the people. From its walls went 
forth all the efforts that made for the highest and noblest 
activities of human nature. It was the fourth meeting-house 
used by the town, and stands on the site of the third building, 
a spot which was by no means the unanimous choice of the, 
town when that structure was built ; and the usual contro- 
versy then took place over the site. It was begun in 17 14, 
and was two years in process of building. In early times 
there was always much contention in regard to the local 
position of the house, some wanting it put in one place, and 
others in another, according to the convenience of their re- 
spective families. Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton, says : 
" But the momentous affairs of deciding upon a spot on which 
to set a public building, and choosing and settling a minister, 
are not usually accomplished without much strife and conten- 
tion, and are sometimes attended with long and furious quar- 
rels and expensive lawsuits" (page 306). The Reverend 
Joseph Emerson, the first minister of Groton West Parish, 
now known as Pepperell, explains the cause thus : " It hath 
been observed that some of the hottest contentions in this 
land hath been about settling of ministers and building meet- 
ing-houses ; and what is the reason? The devil is a great 
enemy to settling ministers and building meeting-houses ; 
wherefore he sets on his own children to work and make 
difficulties, and to the utmost of his power stirs up the cor- 
ruptions of the children of God in some way to oppose or 
obstruct so good a work." 

With no desire to dispute Mr. Emerson's theory in re- 
gard to the matter, I think that the present generation would 
hardly accept his explanation as the correct one. 

For some months, perhaps for one or two years, before the 
present house of worship was built, the question of a new struc- 
ture was considered and discussed at town-meetings. It was 
then in the air, and finally the matter took concrete shape. On 
May 6, 1754, the town made definite plans for a raising of 
the frame; and on such occasions at that period of time rum 



39 

was supposed to be needed, not only to bring together a 
crowd to help along the work, but also to give strength to the 
workers. At that meeting the following vote was passed : — 

at a Legal meeting of the Inhabitants at Groton qualleyfied by Law 
for voting in Town affairs assembled Chose Cap 1 bancroft moderator 
for s d meeting 

The question was put which way they would face the meetinghouse 
and the major vote was for facing s d house to the west 

Voted that The meeting house Com tee prouide one hogshead of 
Rum one Loaf of white Shuger one quarter of a hundread of brown 
Shugar also voted that Deacon Stone Deacon farwell Lt Isaac 
woods benje Stone Lt John Woods Cap 1 Sam" Tarbell Amos Lawrence 
Ensign Obadiah Parker Cap' bancroft be a Com tee and to prouide 
Victuals and Drink for a hundread men and If the people Dont sub- 
scribe anough then the Com tee to purchas the Remainder up on the 
Towns Cost. 

Voted that The Com tee that Got the Timber for The meeting house 
haue Liberty with such as shall subscribe thear to to build a porch at 
the front Dore of the meeting house up on their own Cost 

Then voted that the Select men prouide some Conuiant place to 
meet in upon the Sabbath Till further order. 

According to Joseph Farwell's note-book the raising took 
place on May 22, 1754, — which day fell on Wednesday, — 
and lasted until Saturday, May 25. It is to be hoped that 
during these three days no accident happened on account of 
the liquid stimulant. Probably the work on the building was 
pushed with all the speed then possible and available ; and, 
probably too, it was used for worship long before it was fin- 
ished. During this period of interruption in the public ser- 
vices it is very likely that the Sunday meetings were held at 
the house of the minister, Mr. Trowbridge, who then lived 
on the site of the High School building. 

According to Farwell's note-book, on August 18, 1754, 
Mrs. Sarah Dickinson became a member of the church, the 
first person so admitted in the new meeting-house. She was 
the widow of James Dickinson, who had died only a few weeks 
before, and was buried in the old graveyard. According 
to the same authority, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 



40 

was administered in the new building for the first time on 
November 15, 1754. 

The early settlers did not believe much in outward cere- 
mony; and the new meeting-house was never formally dedi- 
cated by a special service. Perhaps, when the house was first 
opened for worship, Mr. Trowbridge preached a sermon in 
keeping with the occasion ; and very likely in his prayer he 
made some allusion to the event. We are told that the prayer 
of the righteous man availeth much. The homage paid to 
the Creator of the universe each Sunday, both by the pulpit 
and the pews, would consecrate any such structure to its high 
purpose. Simple in their religious faith, the worshippers had 
no use for ecclesiastical forms. Not alone by their words, but 
by their thoughts, they dedicated the meeting-house. Some- 
times words not spoken have more meaning than those 
which are uttered. 

The Common, in front of the present meeting-house, was a 
place closely connected with the life of the town. Here at an 
early period the two militia companies used to meet and drill 
at regular times, known as training-days. On the Common 
the two companies of minute-men rallied on the morning of 
that eventful nineteenth of April, and received their ammuni- 
tion from the town's stock, which was stored in the Powder- 
House near by. Here they took farewell of friends and 
families, knowing full well the responsible duties that rested 
on their shoulders, and the dangers that threatened them. 
These men marched hence on that memorable day as British 
subjects, but they came back as independent citizens who 
never knew again the authority of a king. 

In that house Mr. Dana, a young and rising lawyer of 
Groton, pronounced a eulogy on General Washington, which 
was delivered on Saturday, February 22, 1800, a few weeks 
after his death. The military companies of the town at- 
tended the exercises. Miss Elizabeth Farnsworth (1791- 
1884) and Mrs. Sarah (Capell) Gilson (1 793-1 890) as little 
girls were present on the occasion, and they both gave mc 
their faint recollections of the day. 

The meeting-house was remodelled in the year 1839, 



4i 

when it was partially turned round, and the north end of the 
building made the front, facing the west, as it now stands. 
Formerly the road to the easterly part of the town went 
diagonally across the Common, and passed down the hill to 
the south of the meeting-house ; and there was no highway 
on the north side. Before this change in the building was 
made, the town-meetings were always held in the body of the 
house ; and the voting was done in front of the pulpit. In my 
mind's eye I can see now the old pulpit, with the sounding- 
board hanging overhead. 

The town-clock in the steeple, so familiar to every man, 
woman, and child in Groton, was made by James Ridgway, 
and placed in the tower some time during the spring of 1809. 
It was paid for in part by the town, and in part by private 
subscription. Mr. Ridgway was a silversmith and a clock- 
maker, who during the war with England (1812-1815) 
carried on a large business in this neighborhood. He after- 
ward removed to Keene, New Hampshire, where he lived 
for many years. His shop was situated on Main Street, 
nearly opposite to the Groton Inn, but it disappeared a long 
time ago. 

The bell of the meeting-house was cast in the year 1819 by 
Revere and Son, Boston, and, according to the inscription, 
weighs 1 128 pounds. 

On this interesting occasion we are all glad to have present 
with us the venerable Zara Patch, a native of Groton and the 
oldest inhabitant of the town. His ancestry in both branches 
of the family runs back nearly to the beginning of the settle- 
ment, and in his person is represented some of the best blood 
of old Groton stock ; and we welcome him at this time. He 
is the last survivor of nineteen citizens who signed the call 
for the due observance of the bi-centennial anniversary, on 
October 31, 1855, which was issued in the preceding May. 

Fifty years ago the town had a celebration of the two- 
hundredth anniversary of its settlement, similar to the one 
we are now holding. On that occasion Governor Boutwell 
was President of the day, and the Reverend Arthur Buck- 
minster Fuller, a younger brother of Margaret Fuller, — of a 

6 



42 

family once resident here, — made the historical address, 
which was delivered in the Congregational Meeting-house. 
Colonel Eusebius Silsby Clark, who lost his life in the War of 
the Rebellion, at Winchester, Virginia, on October 17, 1864, 
was the Chief Marshal. Of his six aids on that day John 
Warren Parker and myself are the sole survivors, and the 
only representatives of those who had an official connection 
with the exercises ; and now we are left the last two leaves 
on the branch. At that celebration Mr. Parker was also one 
of the Committee of Arrangements ; and we are all glad to 
see him present on this occasion. 

Groton is a small town, but there are those who love her 
and cherish her good name and fame. She has been the 
mother of many a brave son and many a fair daughter, duti- 
ful children who through generations " arise up and call her 
blessed." She is the Mount Zion of a large household. Of 
her numerous family, from the nursling to the aged, by her 
example she has spared no pains to make them useful citizens 
and worthy members of society. In former years she was 
relatively a much more important town than she is now. At 
the time of the first national census in 1790, in population 
Groton was the second town in Middlesex County, Cambridge 
alone surpassing it. In order to learn the true value of some 
communities, and to give the inhabitants of Groton their 
proper rank, they should be weighed and not counted ; and 
by this standard it would be found that the town has not 
been lessened even in relative importance. Bigness and great- 
ness are not synonymous words, and in their meaning there 
is much difference between them. In all our thoughts and 
deeds, let us do as well by the town as she has done by us. 

Fellow Townsmen and Neighbors, — the stint you set 
me is now done. On my part it has proved to be not a 
task, but a labor of love. If anything that I may have said 
should spur others to study the history of an old town that 
was typical of life among plain folk in the early days of 
New England, and one that has left an honorable record 
during the various periods of its existence, my aim will 
have been reached. 



APPENDIX. 



The Name of Groton. 

I AM indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Edward Mussey 
Hartwell for the following paper on the origin of the name 
of Groton. From any other source I could not have obtained 
such a scholarly essay on the subject; and it places me under 
great obligations to him. Dr. Hartwell passed his boyhood 
in Littleton, where his father's family belonged ; and he fitted 
for college mostly at Lawrence Academy, so that he has 
inherited an historical interest in the neighborhood. 

Statistics Department. 
Boston, July 3, 1905. 
Hon. Samuel A. Green, Librarian, 

Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Dear Dr. Green, — What follows contains the gist of my notes 
on Groton. For the sake of conciseness and brevity, I forbear (1) 
from fully describing the sources whence my citations are derived, 
and (2) from quotation of authorities regarding the linguistic affinities 
of the components of the word Groton. However, I may say that I 
can support every statement by documentary evidence that seems 
conclusive to me. 

Groton occurs as a place name both in England and the United 
States. Groton in England, which is situated in the County of Suffolk, 
appears to be a small parish of some 1560 acres, of which 39 are in 
common. The " Dictionnaire des Bureaux de Poste " published at 
Berne in 1895, gives six post-offices in various parts of the United 
States having the name of Groton. Two of them, viz., Groton, 
Massachusetts, and Groton, Connecticut, date from Colonial times, 
i.e., from 1655 and 1705 respectively, and numbered among their 
original grantees or proprietors members of the Winthrop family whose 
ancestral seat was. Groton in the Babenberg Hundred, County Suffolk, 
England, whence it is reasonable to suppose all Grotons in this country 
have derived their name. Among them Groton, Mass., is the most 



44 

ancient. The name (spelt Groaten) appears in a vote of the General 
Court dated May 29, 1655, to grant a new plantation at Petapawag 
to Mr. Deane Winthrop and others. In later records of the General 
Court, e. g., May 26, 1658, the form Grot en appears ; and in the same 
records under date of November 12, 1659, both Groten and Groaten 
appear. 

The Manor of Groton in Babenberg Hundred in the Liberty of St. 
Edmund and the County of Suffolk, England, according to the Domes- 
day Book (1086) belonged to the Abbey of Bury of St. Edmund's in 
the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1065). In 1544 the re- 
quest of Adam Wynthorpe to purchase " the Farm of the Manor of 
Groton (Suffolk) late of the Monastery of Bury St. Edmund's " was 
granted by Henry VIII. (into whose hands it had come when the 
monasteries were suppressed) for the sum of ^"408. 18s. 3d. Gov- 
ernor John Winthrop, grandson of Adam Wynthorpe, was Lord of 
the Manor of Groton in 1618. In 1630 or 1631 he sold his interest 
therein for ,£4,200. I find the name of this manor spelt variously at 
different times as follows : 

1. Grotena (a) in Domesday Book in 1086. 

(b) in Jocelin de Brakelond's Chronicle in 1200. 

(c) in the Hundred Rolls in 1277. 

2. Gxolene (a) in Joe. de Brakelond about 1200. 

(b) in the Patent Rolls, 1291 and 1298. 

3. Gxoiona in Joe. de Brakelond about 1200. 

4. Gxo\one (a) in Joe. de Brakelond about 1200. 

(b) in the Patent Rolls in 1423. 

(c) in Dugdale's citation of a MS. of 1533. 

5. Groton (a) in Dugdale's citation of a MS. of 14th Century. 

(b) in Records of the Augmentation Office, 1541 and 
1544- 

Jocelin de Brakelond was a monk of Bury St. Edmund's who, as 
Chaplain of the Abbot, wrote the Chronicle which bears his name. 
It covers the period 1 173-1203, i. e., the incumbency of Abbot 
Samson. The frequent mention of Groton in this Chronicle, written 
just at the beginning of the thirteenth century, may be accounted for 
by the fact that the Abbey and certain claimants named de Cokefeld 
had a law-suit over lands at Groton. 

Since 1541 Groton appears to have been the form of the name of 
the English manor, parish or hamlet. It may be remarked: (1) that 
" de Grotena " is found as a personal name in the Hundred Rolls, 



45 



1297 ; and "de Grotton " in the Scotch Rolls, 1327 ; while a holding 
named Grotton, "late of the Monastery of Delacres in Staffordshire" 
is mentioned in the records of the Augmentation Office, 1547; and 
Grotton, a railway station in Lancashire, is mentioned in a " Compre- 
hensive Gazetteer of England and Wales," a recent but undated work. 

The Latinized " in Grotena " and " Grotenam " of the Domesday 
Book give rise to the suggestion that Groten has the force of an 
adjective (meaning gravelly, gritty, stony or sandy), which served to 
characterize a tract of land, or perhaps a hill, a pit, a ham, or a ton. 
I take grot to be one form of the Old English gredt, grut (Middle 
English, greet, gret, and Modern English, grit), meaning gravel. 

The following is a series of forms in which variants of grebt seem to 
have an adjectival force : 

(1) Greotan edesces lond, relating to land in Kent, in a charter dated 

822. Possibly greotan may stand for greatan, meaning big. 

(2) GretenYmkes, in Hampshire, in a land charter of 966. 

(3) Gretindun (later Gretton in Dorsetshire), mentioned in a charter 

of 1019. 

(4) Gretenhowe, the name of Gretna in Scotland, in 1376. 

(5) Grotint\me, a manor in Shropshire, Domesday Book, 1086. 

(6) Gratenton (?), a manor in Berkshire, Domesday Book, 1086. 
On the other hand, the form Greotan may be the dative plural of 

greot (for greotum ?) used in a locative sense " at the gravels," since 
Gravelai and Gravelei occur as place names in Domesday Book and 
Gravell occurs in the Hundred Rolls, temp. Edw. I. 

The following scheme, derived from various standard lexicons, 
exhibits the etymological affinities of Greot (grit) : 



Middle 
cf. English and Ger- 
man, 
Greot, Greet, grit, gryt, 

gret, 
Griesz, 



Old 
Saxon Griot, griet, 

greot, 
English Gre6t, grut, 

grot, 
High German Grioz, 
Norse : 
Icelandic Grjot (griot), Grjot, 
Danish and 

Norwegian Grjot, Grjot, Gryt(e), 
Swedish 
Old Frisian gret. 
Low German grott. 



Modern 
cf. English, German 

and Norse. 
Grit, grot, grout. 

Gries, Gruse, Graus. 

Grjot, Gryttn. 

Gruus, Grus, Gryttn. 
Grus, Grytt. 



4 6 

Grot, for great, appears to be an old and rather rare form. It 
should be stated that British place (and personal) names having Gret 
are much more numerous than those having Grot in the first syllable. 
Gretton is the name of several manors mentioned in Domesday, e. g., 
the present Girton (formerly called Gritton) (cf. Girton College), near 
Cambridge (Cambs.) and Gretton in Northamptonshire, still called 
Gretton. The last was Gretton (gryttune in 1060), Greton in 1086, 
Gretton in 1277, 1678, and 1895. 

Other forms besides Gretton are : Gret-a = Gritwater, a stream in 
Cumberland, cf. Greta-marsc ( = Grit-water-marsh ?), 821; Greta- 
bridge = Gritwater bridge, Gret-ford, Gret-ham, Gret-land, Gret-well. 
Southey, the poet, lived at Greta Hall. 

Greta river in Cumberland had its counterpart in Grj'otd, in the 
eleventh century in Iceland, translated Gritwater by Dasent in " The 
Burnt JViat." Gryttnbakki = Gravel hill or Gravel bank, is the name 
of (1) a modern post-office in Iceland and (2) another in Denmark. 
Grytten is a place name of today in Norway. 

The Icelandic (Old Norse) Grjbt-garth meant stone fence. Akin 
to garth (gard) are the Norwegian gaard and Swedish gard, a landed 
estate or homestead ; and the English Cloister-garth, yard, garden, 
and orchard (ort-geard). 

Ton in Groton, Boston, etc., is related to M. E. Ton (Tone), O. E. 
tun, tune, O. Norse tun, O. Frisian tun, O. H. German taun, and 
German zaun, a hedge or fence. Ton and tun originally meaning an 
enclosing hedge or fence, meant also, field, yard, manor, hamlet, 
village and town or city. 

Garth (yard) presents a parallel series of similar meanings, e. g., 
O. Norse for Constantinople was Myckel-gaard, i. e., the Great City. 

I think that Groton stands for Grot-ton (cf. Gretton, Grit-ton) and 
is practically equivalent to the Icelandic Grjdt-garth, and that your 
suggestion in 1876 as to the meaning of Groton was a happy one. 

Floreat Grotetia ! 

Yours faithfully, 

Edward M. Hartwell. 



Bi-centc7inial Celebration. 

The following extracts from the town-records relate to the 
celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the settle- 
ment of Groton, which took place fifty years ago. They 



47 

have never yet been printed, but are given here, as they 
have a certain connection with the celebration recently held. 
With the exception of the Reverend Edwin A. Bulkley, every 
man whose name is mentioned in these extracts is now dead, 
showing the ravages which half a century may bring about. 




In the warrant for the Town Meeting, November 13, 1854, 
Article 2 is as follows : — 

To see if the town will take any measures to notice or celebrate 
the Two Hundredth anniversary since the settlement of the town of 
Groton in the year 1655 or pass any vote in relation to the same. 
{P- 3890 

In the proceedings of the meeting it is recorded that: - 
The subject matter of this article [2] was referred to the following 
committee with instructions to report at a future meeting. 
Stuart J. Park Jacob Pollard 

Josiah Bigelow Abel Tarbell 

Wm. Shattuck Joseph Sanderson 

Willard Torrey Calvin Blood 

Norman Shattuck Joseph Brown 

John Pingree Silas Nutting 

Elnathan Brown Joseph Rugg 

Charles Prescott Charles A. Hutson 

(P- 39 2 -) 

Proceedings at the Town Meeting, March 5, 1855 : - 
The committee chosen in Nov. last upon the Article "To see if 
the town will take any measures to notice or celebrate the two hun- 



4 8 



dredth anniversary since the settlement of the town of Groton in the 
year 1655 or pass any vote in relation to the same " have attended to 
that duty and submit the following Report : 

That there are eras or waymarks in the history of a people which it 
well becomes them to notice or celebrate, and such we consider the 
approaching anniversary of the incorporation of this town, and would 
therefore recommend to the town to celebrate said anniversary with 
becoming festivities, and that a committee be chosen to take the whole 
subject into consideration and report at the next April meeting a plan 
or mode of celebrating said anniversary. 



Josiah Bigelow 
Joseph Rugg 
Norman Shattuck 



Stuart J. Park 
Wm. Shattuck 
Willard Torrey 
Silas Nutting 



(P- 403-) 



The above report was accepted and 
chosen a committee to report a plan 
anniversary at the next April meeting. 

Geo. S. Boutwell 

Rev. David Fosdick 

B. Russell 

S. J. Park 

Peter Nutting 

Nath! Stone 

B. P. Dix 

Rev. Crawford Nightingale 

„ E. A. Bulkley 

„ George E. Tucker 

„ [John M.] Chick 
George F. Farley 
Calvin Fletcher 
Abel Tarbell 
Walter Shattuck 
(P- 403-) 



the following gentlemen were 
or mode of celebrating said 

Josiah Bigelow 
David Lakin 
Dr. George Stearns 
Norman Smith 
Daniel Needham 
Rev. Daniel Butler 
John Spaulding 
Curtis Lawrence 
Geo. W. Bancroft 
J. F. Hall, Jr. 
Noah Shattuck 
Joshua Gilson 
P. G. Prescott 
J. G. Park 
Wm. Shattuck 



Proceedings at the Town Meeting, April 2, 1855 : — 

Voted, That the report of the Committee on the second Centennial 
Anniversary celebration be accepted and placed on file, also chose 
the following persons a committee to make preparations and arrange- 



General 




Committee 




r o. g. 


Thos. 


Hutchins 


IO. 


Rufus Moors 


1 1. 


John 


Pingree 


12. 


Nath! 


Stone 


r 3- 


E. D. 


Derby 


14. 


S. W 


Rowe 


15- 


Ch's. 


Prescott 


16. 


Allen Blood 



49 

ments for the celebration as mentioned in said report with discretion- 
ary powers as to the same, to wit. 

Geo. F. Farley 1 
Joshua Green 
S. J. Park 1 

Geo. S. Boutwell 
David Fosdick, Jr. j 
District No. 1. Henry A. Bancroft District No. 

2. Curtis Lawrence 

3. Josiah Bigelow 

4. Edmund Blood ' 

5. Wm. Shattuck 

6. Solomon Story 

7. Reuben Lewis 

8. Calvin Blood 
(p. 407.) 

Many years ago I obtained the letters and other manu- 
scripts, together with the printed circulars, connected with 
the Bi-centennial Celebration ; and I have had them carefully 
arranged, bound in a volume, and placed in the Library of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

List of Indian Words. 

The following Indian names, applied by the early settlers 
to streams, ponds, or places, in the original township of 
Groton and neighborhood, for the most part are still in com- 
mon use. The spelling of these words varies, as at first they 
were written according to their sound and not according to 
their derivation. In the absence of any correct standard 
either of spelling or pronunciation, which always character- 
izes an unwritten language, the words have become so twisted 
and distorted that much of their original meaning is lost ; but 
their root generally remains. It is rare to find an Indian 
word in an early document spelled twice alike. In the 
lapse of time these verbal changes have been so great that 
a native would hardly recognize any of them by sound. 
Even with all these drawbacks such words now furnish one of 

7 



5o 

the few links in a chain of historical facts connecting modern 
times with the prehistoric period of New England. As the 
shards that lie scattered around the site of old Indian dwell- 
ings are eagerly picked up by the archaeologist for critical 
examination, so these isolated facts about place-names are 
worth saving by the antiquary for their philological value. 
" Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." 

Babbitasset — formerly the name of a village in Pepperell, now 

included in East Pepperell. 
Baddacook — a pond in the eastern part of the town. 
Catacoonamug — a stream in Shirley, which empties into the Nashua. 
Chicopee — a district in the northerly part of the town, and applied 

to the highway approaching it, called Chicopee Row. 
Humhaw — a brook in Westford. 
Kissacook — a hill in Westford. 

Massapoag — a pond lying partly in Groton and partly in Dunstable. 
Mulpus — a brook in Shirley. 
Nagog — a pond in Littleton. 
Nashoba — the old name of the Praying Indian village in Littleton, 

now applied to a hill in that town as well as to a brook in Westford. 
Nashua — a river running through the township, and emptying into 

the Merrimack. 
Naumox — a district, near the Longley monument, lying west of the 

East Pepperell road ; said to have been the name of an Indian 

chief. 
Nissitisset — applied to the neighborhood of Hollis, New Hampshire, 

and to a river and a hill in Pepperell. 
Nonacoicus — a brook in Ayer, though formerly the name was applied 

to a tract of land in the southerly part of Groton, and is shortened 

often to Coicus. 
Nubanussuck — a pond in Westford. 
Petaupaitkett — a name found in the original petition to the General 

Court for the grant of the town, and used in connection with the 

territory of the neighborhood ; sometimes written Petapawage and 

Petapaway. 
Quosoponagon — a meadow "on the other side of the riuer," men- 
tioned in the land-grant of Thomas Tarbell, Jr. ; the same word 

as Quasaponikin, formerly the name of a tract of land in Lancaster, 

but now given to a meadow and a hill in that town, where it is often 

contracted into Ponikin. 



5i 



Shabikin, or more commonly Shabokin, applied to a district in 

Harvard, bordering on the Nashua, below Still River village. 
Squannacook — a river in the western part of the town flowing into the 

Nashua ; a name formerly applied to the village of West Groton. 
Tadmuck — a brook and a meadow in Westford. 
Unquetenassett, or Unquetenorset — a brook in the northerly part of 

the town ; often shortened into Unquety. 
Waubansconcett — another word found in the original petition for the 

grant of the town, and used in connection with the territory of 

the neighborhood. 

List of Towns 

established in the two Colonies, before the township of Groton was 
granted in 1655, together with the year when they are first mentioned 
in the records of the General Court. 

PLYMOUTH COLONY. 



1 


1620 


Plymouth 


7 


1639 


Taunton 


2 


1633 


Scituate 


8 


1641 


Marshfield 


3 


1637 


Duxbury 


9 


1643 


Eastham 


4 


1638 


Barnstable 


10 


1645 


Rehoboth 


5 


" 


Sandwich 


11 


1652 


Dartmouth 


6 


1639 


Yarmouth 












MASSACHUSETTS- 


BAY 


COLON V. 




1 


1630 


Charlestown 


19 


1640 


Braintree 


2 


" 


Salem 


20 


" 


Salisbury 


3 


" 


Boston 


21 


1641 


Haverhill 


4 


" 


Dorchester 


22 


" 


Springfield 


5 


" 


Watertown 


23 


1642 


Gloucester 


6 


" 


Medford 


24 


" 


Woburn 


7 


" 


Roxbury 


25 


1643 


Wenham 


8 


1631 


Lynn 


26 


1644 


Hull 


9 


" 


Cambridge 


27 


" 


Reading 


10 


1633 


Marblehead 


28 


1645 


Manchester 


11 


1634 


Ipswich 


29 


1646 


Andover 


12 


1635 


Newbury 


30 


1648 


Topsfield 


13 


" 


Hingham 


31 


1649 


Maiden 


14 


" 


Weymouth 


32 


1650 


Medfield 


15 


" 


Concord 


33 


1653 


Lancaster 


16 


1636 


Dedham 


34 


May, 1655 


Groton 


17 


1639 


Rowley 


35 


" " 


Billerica 


18 


" 


Sudbury 


36 


" " 


Chelmsford 



Trees from England. 
Last September I wrote to the Reverend John W. Way- 
man, rector of the Groton Parish in England, and through 
his courtesy I procured several young elms and some acorns 
and beechnuts from the mother town. During the winter 
Professor Charles S. Sargent, who is at the head of the 



52 

Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, kindly took charge of 
the trees ; and he also planted the acorns and nuts which 
came up in the spring. These trees and saplings have been 
set out temporarily on my land, and in due time, when of 
suitable size, they will be transplanted in some public place. 
It is hoped that they will foster and keep alive an interest 
between the two towns which are connected by sentiment, 
though separated in age by centuries and in distance by 
thousands of miles. 




First Parish Mecting-Jwuse. 

This cut was taken from a drawing made in the year 1 838 by 
John Warner Barber, and originally appeared in his Historical 
Collections of Massachusetts (Worcester, 1839). It repre- 
sents the First Parish Meeting-house before it was remodelled 
in 1839, when it was partially turned round, and the north 
end made the front, facing the west. The Academy build- 
ing, on the right of the Meeting-house, was enlarged in the 
autumn of 1846, and afterward burned on July 4, 1868. 
The fence now around the Common in front of the Meeting- 
house was built in the autumn of 1842, the last post being 
placed at the northwest corner on October 3 of that year. 
The trees within the enclosure were set out about the same 
time, excepting the row of elms along Main Street, which 
were transplanted in 1828. 



SEP ? 1905 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 079 032 1 



